Sunday night and into Monday morning, I had this nasty cough which wouldn't go away - I had difficulty getting to sleep. The most annoying part was that it felt like something was stuck in my throat, but when I coughed, nothing came up. I called my doctor's office Monday morning to see if I could get an appointment - my doctor is on holidays, but there are two other doctors in the same office - the earliest they could see me was December 10th which was not acceptable. When we were at the airport last Sunday, I noticed a sign about doctors who would come to your home. I found the phone number on the net and called 'Dial A Home Doctor'. They don't charge anything for the visit - it's all covered under Medicare (national health care). When the doctor came that evening, he checked me all out and couldn't make a diagnosis on what he was seeing/hearing. So, he gave me a pill that would help me to relax and get some sleep and told me to come and see him on Tuesday. When I saw him, he gave me some forms to get a chest x-ray done and some blood work as well. I hate needles! On Thursday, I went back for the results and it turned out that I have bronchitis - this meant getting some antibiotics and three day's worth of steroids to deal with the inflammation. So far, things seem to be clearing up which I am very pleased about - I am not a good patient! :-)
Dad left on Thursday to head to Newcastle (two hours north of Sydney) to teach a practical course on the A320 airplane. Adrian, another instructor, had been down there teaching 18 guys the theory part of the course, but when the practical course is being taught, each instructor can only teach six guys at a time. They met up at about 9pm for three nights in a row at which time they had access to an airplane. Dad began his session each night by pointing out where various components were on the airplane. The rest of the time was spent in the cockpit where Dad demonstrated how to do various tests and troubleshooting. They then met on Sunday morning for individual oral exams. All of the guys in Dad's group were quite knowledgeable and so the exams went quickly. Dad had an evening flight out of Newcastle and so he and Adrian spent some of that afternoon driving around the area of Nelson Bay which is north of Newcastle. Nelson Bay is like a small Hervey Bay - parks and an esplanade along the water and a marina - they took a nice walk along the breakwater wall. Dad arrived in HB tonight at 8pm and he was happy to be home.
I met up with my friend, Haidi, on Friday - we haven't seen each other in ages with both of us having done a lot of travelling lately, so it was good to get caught up with each other again. Saturday, it poured here in HB which was great for the lawn and the flowers, but not so great for going out and doing anything. So, it was a day of staying at home and cleaning for me - oh joy! :-) I went to church on Sunday and was greeted warmly by the members. Of course, the first question people asked me was 'when are you leaving us again?' :-) It was nice to be back home with all my friends. It was even better when I got to pick up Dad at the airport. I am not good at being on my own.
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